The paper bags would have crunched in his fist if they hadn't been damp from laying on the ground.
Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, that was Prince Viktor Nikiforov! Yuuri inwardly shouted, grinding his teeth and trying not to audibly cry. And I was about to go into heat! Yuuri wanted to die from embarrassment and shame. His omega let out a distressed keen as Yuuri made his escape through the mud-slicked terrane.
"WAIT! STOP!" Viktor cried out, and Yuuri could almost sense that the man was giving chase to his fight.
He uttered a small sound of fright and shot a glance behind him. Viktor was nowhere in sight. But judging by the clear indentation in the soggy earth that Yuuri was leaving behind, that wouldn't last for long. Something was wrong with Yuuri. No one was supposed to be able to scent him or identify him. Yet the man who had attacked Viktor had easily done so. James had called him an omega. Even if Yuuri didn't have any tracks, Viktor would be able to follow the scent trail left behind. He heard them in pursuit as he splashed down into the freezing muddy stream.
"Do not run from an imperial retainer!" It wasn't Viktor's voice that issued the order.
Oh gods, oh gods, they're going to take me away! Then the bond, oh gods, the bond, and I'll- and then Yuuko and Phichit- they won't be able to- Yuuri couldn't formulate complete thoughts, everything coming through his mind as vague, blurry ideas.
He had to be smart about this. He had to use his head. Yuuri bit down on the paper bags and then jumped up out of the water, reaching for the branches above. His right hand stung and burned as it made contact with the rough bark even through the fabric of Viktor's shirt sleeve. He held back a cry of pain even as he began to feel light headed from the combination of the searing pain and the adrenaline. He clamped down harder over the material between his teeth. It was an enormous effort to heave himself up onto the branch, and the feat could only be attributed to the panic that was flooding his system. If he could just get up there, if he could just hide within the safety of the leaves, he would be safe. The entity in his head was agitated. It wanted Yuuri to be caught. It desperately wanted his earlier thought to be the outcome of this scenario. It wanted to take control. It wanted to use Yuuri's body Yuuri couldn't let it. With one last final spurt of overwhelming panic, he hooked a leg over the tree branch and rolled himself on top of it, clinging to it for dear life.
Even with his mind so fried from his encounter, Yuuri had been able to make a hurried plan. He knew he didn't want to leave anymore tracks betraying where he went. The answer was to travel where there he couldn't make obvious tracks, the trees. Then came the issue of his scent being strong and easy to follow, so a tree that had a strong scent of it's own to cover the smell from the oils on Yuuri's hands and the perfume his scent glands were releasing into the air. He had chosen an ancient cedar. It had been a wise choice. Viktor and two others, both with dark hair and eyes burst through the tree line and the two stopped abruptly to avoid splashing into the freezing water while Viktor splashed across it a few feet upwind of Yuuri and looked along the shoreline for tracks.
"I just found him!" Viktor was frantic. "How could I had lost him so soon?"
"I can't scent him at all," the short of the stoic men intones, looking around with sharp eyes. "And there are no sign of tracks on the banks."
Yuuri didn't breathe.
"He must have taken the stream as a road to avoid leaving prints," The second suggested. "Otabek take Viktor and go downstream. I have Leo meeting us there with the horses. I will search upstream. It's downwind of here."
Viktor nodded, looking a bit haggard, eyes still wild. Once the other man had left, Viktor and Otabek stood silently for a moment before the prince spoke. "Otabek, he smelled…" Viktor lowered his voice to a whisper as he said the last words. "He smelled like stray."
What? Yuuri's breath hitched. He should not smell like stray. A stray had no home. No belonging. Yuuri had a home. He'd worked hard to make it his. Or at least he'd thought he had. He didn't belong at the manor? What did that mean? It was his home… it was the only place he had! If he didn't belong at the manor, then where did he belong?
Do you really belong anywhere? The entity whispered through his mind.
Yuuri couldn't move. His whole body was frozen in shock.
Stray. I'm… a stray.
His omega whimpered. Yuuri had no home. His home had been the house on the hill with the pools of hot mountain water. His home had been the room where his father had told him bedtime stories. But that home had been sold off long ago. And no matter how hard he'd tried to make the manor his own, he now knew just how unwelcome he was in Georgi's house. He wasn't even pack. He was just stray.
His companion turned fully to the prince. "Is that the reason you are desperate to find the young man?"
Viktor shook his head. "His is mine, Otabek. My soulmate. I knew it as soon as I looked into his eyes. He belongs to me."
Yuuri jerked at the words, wanting to believe them, but not sure he could.
Viktor had a smiled, but it had a feral glint to it. His alpha was showing face. "And I'll catch him."
Yuri leafed through the pages of the ancient grimoire, happy for the excuse to soak up the knowledge. He'd already catalogued many useless enchantments and spells in his mind for later experimentation and use. But he was looking for something in particular, and he could sense that he was getting close. The knowledge thrummed through him. It was midday, and as usual, the North Wing of the Great Library was completely deserted. Not ever staff were working the Wing. Yuuko was sitting across from him. The girl had bags under her eyes and a scowl on her face. She'd been neglecting any form of rest in favor of pouring over the tomes in the Great Library with Yuri.
"You look gross," Yuri commented, sitting back in his chair a bit more so she was in full view. "You need sleep."
She smiled at him. "So do you but yet you've still met me every night since I met you."
"Yeah, well, it's good for Beka to worry anyways." He grumbled. Beka currently thought that Yuri was having some sort of elicit affair. Yuri hadn't corrected him, and may have encouraged the idea…
"Beka?" Yuuko raised her eyebrows and leaned forwards, suddenly excited. "Who is this Beka?"
"None of your business, hag!" Yuri snapped.
Yuuko giggled. "Oh he's your alpha isn't he?" She squealed. "Is he handsome or homely? Had you mated yet? Where did you meet, that's so romantic!"
"What's romantic, I haven't told you shit yet!" Yuri fired back.
"Oh he is your alpha," She coed, making a disgusting noise.
"Stop awwwwwwing, it's gross." He grumbled.
"So why are you here with me each night? Isn't your alpha angry that you aren't with him?" She was worried about him. It was annoying.
Yuri smiled evilly, still pawing through the book. She opened her mouth to speak again but Yuri suddenly shouted. "I FOUND IT!"
She nearly toppled the table climbing on top of it and yanking the book out from his hands.
"Hey!" He snapped, but his surliness had no effect on her.
"The Death Bond?" Yuuko's eyebrows pulled together, completely distracted from their earlier conversation.
Yuri snatched the book back. "You filth witch, if you'd let me look at it I'd tell you!"
She aggressively shoved her pointer finger onto the pages repeatedly, gritting out through her grinding teeth. "Then tell me now!"
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you just sit back and don't murder me!" Yuri growled, clutching the book to his chest like a lifeline."
She sat back and waited expectantly. "Well?"
Yuri ran a hand through his hair, feeling exhausted. "Right, well, to understand what I'm about to tell you, you're going to have to understand the basics of magic."
"Which is?"
"This for that. An equal trade. Nothing is taken without something of equal value being put in its place. Magic is all about balance. If you have too much of one thing, and not enough of the other, then the entire spell will go awry and you could hurt a lot of people, including the spell caster." Yuri explained, balancing his hands back and forth to demonstrate.
"Okay, so what does that have to do with the Death Bond?" Yuuko cocked her head to the side, confused.
"As soon as you told me all about Yuuri and how he's changed, I had an idea of what was going on. But I have to analyze the enchantment in order to know if it was the spell that was cast onto him."
Yuuko was impatient. "If you had an idea of what enchantment was used, then why couldn't you just act according to that assumption? And beyond that, how did you even have an idea of what Yuuri's curse is?"
"I reverse engineered it."
Yuuko blinked, obviously not getting it.
"Based on what you told me able him and about what he said, I could tell that the enchantment was cast in order to eventually take his life."
Yuuko nodded and swallowed.
"Magic is all about balance." Yuri reminded her, waiting for her to understand.
Her eyes widened. "Georgi is trying to bring someone back," She whispered in realization.
He nodded seriously. "Yes. It's against the law to trade a life like that."
"You say that magic is all about balance. Why did Georgi have to put a curse on Yuuri and make him miserable? Why couldn't he just kill him with magic quickly and then have someone else revived? It's the same concept isn't it?"
Yuri shook his head, staring down at the ancient text. "It doesn't work that way. Plenty of people over the years have been killed with magic. But that doesn't mean you get to trade in their lives for someone else's. It doesn't work that way."
"Why not?" Yuuko was angry. She was also crying.
Yuri knew it wasn't directed towards him, so it was okay. He didn't reach out to comfort her. She should be angry. She should be allowed to have enough rage in her to tear down the whole fucking world with her own bare hands! Yuri inwardly championed her. She didn't need comfort. She needed space to feel the rage and something to put the rage into. Yuri had just the thing. She'd have her own part to play. There would be information to gather very soon.
"Because magic isn't so vague. The balance has to be absolute. Which is why it's so difficult to revive anyone. There are requirements. Firstly, you have to be as similar as possible. An alpha cannot take an omega's body and vice versa. Same goes for betas. Physical attributes don't matter as much, but mental mindsets do. Which is why you have to replicate as close as possible the environment to the one the person you are trying to revive was in before their death. It's nearly impossible, But Georgi seems to be pulling it off."
"So everything he's been doing to Yuuri has been because it's what happened to that person?" For a moment, Yuuko's eyes embodied all the rage of an alpha's. It was hard to believe she was just a beta. Her spirit was that of a dominant creature's. She was not docile in the least. She took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and then opened her eyes, calm again. "It can't be Yuuri's father than because he doesn't meet those requirements."
"No," Yuri agreed. "Do you have any idea on who it could be? Someone dangerous?"
She shook her head. "I doubt it. Georgi is not… cynical. He's very emotional and self-serving. And based off Yuuri's situation, he's trying to bring back an omega servant who was abused physically and mentally. That doesn't sound like someone dangerous, and I can't think of anyone I know of who's died that fit those requirements."
"Then you may have to do some digging," Yuri told her, looking down at the text. He scrunched his eyebrows together. "That's so cruel," He grumbled, unhappily.
"What?" Yuuko was brought out of her train of thought.
"According to the curse, anyone that Yuuri bonds to will… well, it won't end well for them either." He gulped.
Yuuko leaned forwards quickly. "What? What will happen?"
Yuri scowled. "Don't be so eager. It's not pretty, okay?"
She grabbed onto his ear and pinched, pulling it and twisting it ever so slightly. "Tell me, you brat, I've been trying to set Yuuri up with a mate forever so I've got to know!"
"Ach! Fine, fine, you win! Just get the hell off!" He shouted, covering his ear with a hand and frowning. "They will be attached to the spell as well."
"What does that mean?" Yuuko threw her hands up, wishing Yuri would just spell it out. She was short on sleep and on patients. Her normally even temper was acting up far too much for her peace of mind.
"You know that alpha and omegas have two parts, while betas have only one. As an omega, Yuuri has his soul and his omega. When the curse is complete, Yuuri as you know him will cease to exist. His soul will be exchanged for another's, and his will go wherever the revived soul was before."
Yuuko clutched at her chest, caving in on herself at the thought.
Yuri continued. "If he bonds with someone, then their soul will be lost too."
Yuuko frowned. "Does that mean that the revived soul will have two bodies to inhabit?" She asked.
Yuri shook his head. "It means that the one he bonds with will become an empty shell. The only thing left inside of that person would be their secondary gender. Or if they were a beta and didn't have a secondary gender, then they would just be an empty husk." He explained.
"What happens when all that's left in your body is your secondary gender?" Yuuko whispered, imagining it.
Yuri met her eyes, the cold light from the north facing window illuminating back at her, but didn't ask her.
She took in a shuddering breath and laughed a little nervously. "But what are the chances of that happening?"
Yuri grunted. "If the way my life is could be considered any indication, I'd say they're pretty high. You need to find out who it is Georgi's trying to revive, and I have my work cut out to me with this mind fuck." He dropped the book on the table with a resounding thunk. "Go get find your pillow and rest a bit before you do." He advised.
Yuuko stood from where she was sitting and motioned towards the book. "Can the enchantment be broken?" She asked.
Yuri ran his hands through his hair. "I guess we'll have to see."